


The Family Bush

by bwblack



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Baby Names, F/F, Gen, Genealogy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-10
Updated: 2013-07-10
Packaged: 2017-12-18 08:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/877672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bwblack/pseuds/bwblack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John researches his family.</p><p>Written for <a href="http://watsons-woes.livejournal.com/">Watson's Woes</a> JWP prompt #6: <a href="http://www.englishverse.com/poems/futility">futility by Wilfred Owen</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Family Bush

"Granddad's name was Harold?" Harry asked without preamble when John answered the phone.

"Dad's dad? No, I don't think so."

"I was named for somebody, wasn't I?"

"Mum's sister's first husband, maybe? I think they were hoping you'd be remembered in the will."

"I wasn't." 

"It wasn't a brilliant plan. What do you need?"

"A family name."

"Our family name is Watson." 

"Clara wants us each to pick a name from our family tree to use for the baby. I tried explaining..."

"We don't have a family tree, we have a family bush." John repeated what their mother had told them whenever they asked.

"We lost the tree in the blitz." Harriet finished.

"John is a good, fine name. Strong. Classic."

"Clara's already picked John in remembrance of _her_ Grandfather."

"John John Watson-Wells. I like it."

"John...."

"I don't know more than you do, Harry. You could name him after Dad."

"I can't. You _know_ I can't."

"What do you want me to do, Harry?"

"Research? Maybe we could learn something we didn't know before? I'd do it myself but I'm swamped. You are curious, aren't you?"

And that is how John Watson clicked on his first Ancestry leaf. 

It was frustrating, at first. Watson was such a common. And he had so little information.

But as he plugged away with what he was sure that he knew and what his aunt thought she remembered, John entered his grandparents names.

He found articles about the bombs that took his family. 

As he read those accounts he understood why his parents had said so little, it hurt so much to read about and he didn't carry the shrapnel scars on his legs.

He worried about what he might find as he worked backwards. But he couldn't stop if he tried. 

Sherlock took credit for John's investigative prowess. 

John found his paternal great grandparents and their only son. Another John. 

"I told you it was a strong family name," John called his sister, at once.

She told him to keep digging.

John did, into the past of the man who shared his name.

And profession. 

He was a doctor too? 

John could hardly believe it. A coincidence? A genetic proclivity? He was desperate to know more about the man. 

John clicked on more links. A military pension? For war in Afghanistan?

Was there no escape? 

Would Harry's child's great-grandchild also be out in that sand?

John didn't want to know.

The phone rang. A case?

John deleted his family file and followed Sherlock out into the world.


End file.
